After quite a bit of effort, Nolan finally managed to soothe Trina.
Time slipped by quietly. Night fell, and the Erdtree slowly dimmed like some immense machine following a program set long ago.
Stormveil Castle had no shortage of Glintstone lamps. Their light made the castle bright as day, leaving not the slightest trace of darkness even deep into the night.
The renovated walls looked especially white beneath the lamplight, as if they were giving off a faint glow of their own.
Just as Trina had said, runes only served their purpose once they were spent. Left to gather dust in the treasury, they were nothing more than a pile of glowing rocks.
Using runes to renovate the castle was also a way of spending them. The only thing that mattered was ensuring that every rune ended up in the hands of those who deserved it.
In his spare time, Nolan would occasionally mold a few runes for fun, but the improvement was so tiny he could hardly feel it.
He was different from the Tarnished. Even without runes, the Tarnished could strengthen themselves through training.
But Nolan's essence was "fire." If he wanted the flames to burn brighter, he needed enough fuel.
"If only there were a few more people like Radahn," Nolan murmured to himself, a hint of regret on his face.
It was not that he had developed a taste for killing his brother-in-law. It was simply that quality fuel like Radahn was far too rare.
A soul on Radahn's level was worth an amount of runes that was almost impossible to calculate.
"My second brother-in-law will lose himself sooner or later. Should I find a time to put him out of his misery?"
Nolan pondered silently.
He had never met Rykard, but he imagined that the great Praetor would wear a stern expression upon seeing the man who had run off with his sister, like a judge about to sentence a criminal to the gallows.
At the thought, a wicked little smile appeared at the corner of Nolan's mouth.
He turned and walked toward the living quarters on the far right side of the castle's top floor.
The door had been carefully carved from ancient wood. Most striking of all was the blazing flame engraved at its center, surrounded by dragons and flowers, with a full moon hanging high above.
Generally speaking, castles were places for garrisons, not palaces where monarchs indulged themselves.
In a place like this, such elegant and ornate decorations looked somewhat out of place.
Strictly speaking, however, the castle's interior was no different from a palace. It only looked like a castle from the outside and had a few extra defensive features.
After all, though Stormveil had once been the Storm Lord's main city, its location connected north and south. Even if it was a palace, it still had to be able to become the city's final line of defense at a moment's notice.
As Nolan pictured that Lord fighting to the bitter end in his mind, he gently pushed the door open.
The door was not locked. Clearly, the room's owner was waiting for someone to arrive.
"Teacher, did I keep you waiting?" Nolan entered the room with a smile. There were no assassins inside, only Miss Witch lazily reclining on the bed.
Nolan quickly turned and closed the door. But when he looked back again, he froze for a moment.
There was no magic meteor blast to punish a male student for trespassing into a lady's room. There was only Sellen, without her dignified sorcerer's robes.
Her black corset and shorts were faintly visible beneath what little covered her. Half-hidden and half-revealed, Sellen's snow-white skin looked especially soft and lovely beneath the gentle light.
For a moment, Nolan felt as if time had flowed backward, returning him to that night decades ago in the Caria army camp.
Each day, after happily killing a few Cuckoos, he would return to the camp and see this very scene.
That summer had been unbearably hot, as if the whole world had been swallowed by a heatwave. And their way of getting along had been just as direct as that scorching weather.
Their eyes met, and the room instantly fell silent.
There was no startled scream and no teasing banter. Sellen merely crooked a finger at Nolan, then pointed casually at the side of the bed.
"Teacher, what are you doing? It's winter now, so it shouldn't be that hot. Besides, your student isn't that kind of person."
His voice was calm, and the smile on his face did not change. He showed no embarrassment or shame at Sellen's gesture.
Nolan sat down beside Sellen without the slightest hesitation, his gaze resting on her the entire time without once looking away.
He had no reason to be shy. Aside from Sellen herself, he was probably the person who knew this body best.
Back in Caria, he had personally given Sellen this body. The Primal Glintstone that held Sellen's soul and life had also been placed into this body by his own hand.
"Compensation. Isn't this what you meant? It will also help me finish that research topic on 'love.'"
Sellen turned to look at Nolan beside her. This mischievous student had already taken her hand gently.
"The compensation I meant had to do with the starry sky! How did you understand it this way?"
Even Nolan could not follow Sellen's train of thought for a moment. How were the starry sky and love connected?
"In Lecturer Luke's On the Basic Theory of Sorcerer Relationships, it says that when one party invites the other to spend time together by using a reason likely to arouse interest, such as claiming that a pet at home can do backflips, it means that he or she wishes to invite the other party to jointly pass on a sorcerer's bloodline."
Sellen glanced at Nolan, her expression unchanged. If anything, she seemed to carry the seriousness of a scholar. "I have no interest in Borealis doing backflips, but the starry sky is indeed a reason that interests me."
What on earth were those great scholars researching all day instead of doing proper work?
Nolan did not know what to say. He had also heard of Lecturer Luke's great name.
This lecturer's theories mainly focused on helping sorcerers pass down their talent, continuing it until the day the starry sky finally turned.
In a place like the Academy of Magic, filled with obsessive scholars, developing such a theory was probably already the limit of Lecturer Luke's ability.
Nolan touched his spirit ring. The compensation he had prepared was inside, and he hesitated over whether to take it out.
With the atmosphere already like this, Nolan truly could not bear to ruin it. Besides, this was something he had promised Sellen he would do.
"Have you really made up your mind? Once you decide, there will be no turning back."
"You are my only student. To be honest, I never thought we would reach this point at first. But you should understand your teacher. I never regret what I do."
Sellen's voice sounded beside Nolan's ear, carrying a familiar softness, as she slowly moved closer to the man by the bed.
A faint fragrance seemed to drift through the air, barely there, yet somehow intoxicating.
The two people in the room gradually grew warmer, as if they were beside a cozy hearth.
"And as my student, you must not only understand your teacher, but also listen to her. Tonight, I want to properly understand that research topic. You will help me."
The lights went out in an instant, and darkness swept through the room like a tide.
That night, it truly felt as though time had returned to Caria decades ago. The teacher was still the same teacher, and the student was still the same student.
Only this time, the student did not refuse the teacher's request.
In the darkness, the distance between them slowly closed, their breaths mingling together.